Add this to the giant list of complaints people have about Bachelorette contestant Nick Viall: People think Nick Viall is just trying to become the next Bachelor. Having watching, oh, all of the seasons of The Bachelor and The Bachelorette, I feel confident enough to say that I really don’t think that Nick is edging for a starring role. Given his story, it’s easy to assume that he’s just in it for the fame (even though what Bachelor/ette star goes onto Tom Cruise-levels of fortune and fame? None. So, like, if Nick wants to be famous he's going about it the wrong way.) Nick was a late addition to Kaitlyn’s Bachelorette season, which one could construe as either a producer power play, a petition from Nick for eventual bigger and better things, or an attempt at finding the love of his life.
The last time we saw Nick, he was crying at the After the Final Rose special on Andi’s season, asking why she and he did “fiancé-type” sexual acts in the Fantasy Suite. TMI, buddy. TMI. If you would have asked me this question after Nick’s first season of The Bachelorette, I would have said, well, maybe Nick is angling for The Bachelor. But, after seeing his relationship with Kaitlyn, I’m fully reassured that Nick is actually just a hopeless romantic, choosing The Bachelorette to find love as any one of us choose Tinder or Match.com. The Bachelorette is Nick Viall’s own personal dating service, and, while that’s a little weird, it’s not as bad as pretending to love a series of women so you can get on television to once again pretend to love a series of women.
Nick and Kaitlyn’s relationship is so unlike the one he had with Andi. Andi and Nick’s relationship was fun, lustful (though the same can be said of his with Kaitlyn), but very much on the surface. Watching Andi’s season of The Bachelorette, I never felt like she was invested in Nick as much as Nick was invested in her. That’s fine for Andi — she chose Josh Murray in the end — but Nick was left particularly heartbroken after she sent him packing. I would be heartbroken, too — it’s hard to put all of your eggs in one basket when you don’t know what’s coming toward you.
Nick and Kaitlyn, though? Their relationship is also super heated, but in the best way. We saw them consummate their pairing a few weeks ago, and though it caused, like, way too much controversy for anyone’s good, it was a normal thing to have happen. Sometimes, you’re so caught up in a person that you have to have them, and then you think, “Oh no, what did I do?” the next day. This is a normal phenomenon — it’s just unfortunate that Kaitlyn and Nick had to go through it on national television.
Despite this, Kaitlyn and Nick have been a solid couple over the course of this season, especially as Shawn B., Kaitlyn’s other suitor-in-the-running, started to unravel over the fact that — get this — Kaitlyn was dating other guys on a show in which she is pretty much require to date other guys. Where Shawn has zigged, Nick has surely zagged, and to his own benefit. I truly think that Nick is in all of this for the right reasons, as they say in Bachelor/ette land. He’s not angling to be the next Bachelor — he’s just looking for true love.
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Images: Nick Viall/Instagram; Giphy (2)
